Read it Again: Week of Jan. 30, 2003.

80 years ago this week. The Ohio Brotherhood of Threshermen is voicing opposition to a state bill that would fine any operator driving a traction engine or tractor on an improved highway if the wheels are equipped with cleats, lugs or any kind of projection beyond the face of the tire. A letter to legislators stated, “…realizing that agriculture is the one basic industry from which the whole world lives, we bitterly resent any attempt at class legislation that would so seriously hinder the conduct of our business.”

A carload of cheese was shipped to New York by cheese factories in Sugarcreek. Cheesemakers received 27 cents a pound for the product, which was all American Sweitzer.

50 years ago this week. The legislative aims of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation were recently outlined at a District 3 meeting.

Main issues of the Farm Bureau legislative program are highway financing, school reorganization, a new state agricultural center at Ohio State University and rural telephone service, said Clifford Garwick, from the legislative research department of the organization.

Figures released by the Ohio Division of Wildlife reveal that automobiles, not guns, took the highest total of deer in the state last year.

During 1952, Ohio hunters in 27 counties bagged in the neighborhood of 425 bucks in the three-day open season, but automobiles during the year accounted for 547 bucks, does and fawns.

Trumbull County tops the list with 59 reported kills on the highway.

25 years ago this week. Not much farmland in eastern Ohio is selling for less than $1,000 an acre, and prices of $2,000 are common in western Ohio. The sale of a farm in Lancaster, Pa., still makes news. Last spring two Amish farmers teamed up to buy a 114-acre farm for $569,140 – about $4,975 per acre.

The farm featured 93 acres of tillable ground, 21 acres of pasture, 900 feet of road frontage and another 900 feet on another road. The farmhouse is a large two-story home with nine rooms and four original fireplaces that could be made usable.

Included in the sale price was a 77-by-93 foot double decker barn with stalls for 37 cows, milk house, two silos, five corn cribs, heifer barn, implement shed and three-car garage with two floors. No livestock was included.

The huge load of snow on the Pennsylvania Farm Show roofs proved too much and collapsed. Nobody was injured but the manager estimates the cost of repairs at $250,000.